{"slug":"operation-midnight-hammer-iran-strikes-2025","title":"Operation Midnight Hammer: US Strikes on Iran's Nuclear Sites Without Congressional or UN Authorisation (June 2025)","date":"2025-06-22","lastUpdated":"2026-10-04","description":"On June 22, 2025, during the Israel–Iran war, US forces struck Iran's nuclear facilities at Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan. Al Jazeera reported 125 aircraft, 14 GBU-57 bunker-buster bombs dropped by B-2s, and more than two dozen submarine-launched Tomahawk missiles. There was no congressional authorisation and no UN Security Council mandate. Iran called it a 'grave violation of the UN Charter'; the UN Secretary-General called it 'a dangerous escalation.' The Senate rejected a war powers resolution 47–53.","summary":"The US bombed three Iranian nuclear sites in June 2025 without asking Congress or the UN Security Council. A leading international law scholar, writing for the Lieber Institute at West Point, concluded the strikes do not qualify as self-defence. The operation was the first direct US use of force against Iran in this period and preceded the 2026 war.","category":"military-overreach","severity":"critical","ongoing":false,"sources":[{"url":"https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/6/22/us-bombs-irans-nuclear-sites-what-we-know-so-far","title":"US bombs Iran's nuclear sites: What we know so far","publisher":"Al Jazeera"},{"url":"https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/watch-hegseth-and-caine-hold-pentagon-news-briefing-after-u-s-strikes-on-iran-nuclear-sites","title":"Hegseth and Caine hold Pentagon news briefing after U.S. strikes on Iran nuclear sites","publisher":"PBS NewsHour"},{"url":"https://www.cbsnews.com/news/senate-trump-war-powers-iran-strikes/","title":"Senate rejects war powers resolution after Trump's Iran strikes","publisher":"CBS News"},{"url":"https://lieber.westpoint.edu/israel-united-states-iran-self-defence-forcible-counterproliferation/","title":"Israel (and the United States) vs. Iran: Self-Defence and Forcible Counterproliferation","publisher":"Lieber Institute for Law and Warfare, West Point"}],"draft":false,"status":"published","tags":["Iran","Operation Midnight Hammer","use of force","aggression","war powers","nuclear facilities","Fordow"],"relatedEntries":["iran-war-crime-of-aggression","jcpoa-iran-deal-withdrawal","trump-soleimani-assassination-iran-escalation","iran-war-bushehr-nuclear-plant"],"timeline":[{"date":"2025-06-22","title":"US strikes Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan","summary":"US B-2 bombers and a submarine strike three Iranian nuclear sites; Trump announces the attack. Iran calls it a grave violation of the UN Charter; the UN Secretary-General calls it a dangerous escalation (Al Jazeera)."},{"date":"2025-06-22","title":"Pentagon briefing","summary":"Hegseth and Gen. Dan Caine brief on 'Operation Midnight Hammer'. Hegseth says it was not about regime change; the Pentagon describes 'extremely severe damage and destruction' to the targets (PBS NewsHour)."},{"date":"2025-06-26","title":"Scholarly assessment: not self-defence","summary":"Terry Gill (Lieber Institute, West Point) concludes the Israeli and US action does not qualify as self-defence under prevailing interpretations."},{"date":"2025-06-27","title":"Senate rejects war powers resolution","summary":"The Senate votes 47–53 against Sen. Kaine's resolution requiring congressional authorisation for further hostilities against Iran (CBS News)."}],"location":{"name":"Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan, Iran"},"custom":{"era":"second-term","posture":"executive-action","warCrimeClassification":"potential","internationalLaw":[{"statute":"UN Charter","article":"Article 2(4)","provision":"Prohibition of the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state"},{"statute":"UN Charter","article":"Article 51","provision":"Inherent right of individual or collective self-defence if an armed attack occurs"},{"statute":"UN General Assembly Resolution 3314 (1974)","article":"Article 3(b)","provision":"Bombardment by the armed forces of a state against the territory of another state qualifies as an act of aggression"},{"statute":"Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court","article":"Article 8 bis","provision":"Crime of aggression. The United States is not a party, and Article 15 bis(5) bars ICC jurisdiction over aggression committed by nationals of non-party states."},{"statute":"US Constitution and War Powers Resolution","article":"Art. I, §8; 50 U.S.C. §1541 et seq.","provision":"Congress's power to declare war; limits on introducing armed forces into hostilities without authorisation"}],"iccRelevance":false,"victims":"No deaths from the US strikes are reported in the sources fetched for this entry. The harm assessed here is to the UN Charter's prohibition on the use of force and to Congress's war powers; the strikes also escalated a war in which, according to Al Jazeera, more than 400 people had been killed in Israeli attacks on Iran.","perpetrators":"President Donald Trump (ordered the strikes); Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth; Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Dan Caine","structuredPerpetrators":[{"name":"Donald Trump","role":"Ordered the strikes","institution":"White House"},{"name":"Pete Hegseth","role":"Secretary of Defense","institution":"Department of Defense"}],"legalAnalyses":[{"title":"Israel (and the United States) vs. Iran: Self-Defence and Forcible Counterproliferation","url":"https://lieber.westpoint.edu/israel-united-states-iran-self-defence-forcible-counterproliferation/","author":"Terry D. Gill","organization":"Lieber Institute for Law and Warfare, West Point"}],"keyPoints":["Trump announced: 'We have completed our very successful attack on the three Nuclear sites in Iran, including Fordow, Natanz, and Esfahan' (Al Jazeera).","Al Jazeera reported 125 aircraft, 14 GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrators dropped from B-2 bombers on Fordow and Natanz, and more than two dozen submarine-launched Tomahawk missiles fired at Isfahan.","Defense Secretary Hegseth: 'This mission was not and has not been about regime change'; he said the strikes 'did not target Iranian troops or the Iranian people' (PBS NewsHour).","Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said the US 'has committed a grave violation of the UN Charter, international law and the NPT.' UN Secretary-General António Guterres warned: 'This is a dangerous escalation in a region already on the edge' (Al Jazeera).","No congressional authorisation was sought. On June 27, 2025 the Senate rejected Sen. Tim Kaine's war powers resolution 47–53; Majority Leader John Thune told The Wall Street Journal: 'the president has the authority legally and constitutionally to do what he did' (CBS News).","International law scholar Terry Gill, writing for the Lieber Institute at West Point, concluded that 'the military action by Israel and the United States does not qualify as self-defence' and has 'much more in common with preventive war.'","Iran's nuclear agency and the IAEA reported no increase in off-site radiation (Al Jazeera)."],"searchAliases":["Midnight Hammer","Fordow strike","Iran nuclear sites strike","June 2025 Iran strikes","Twelve-Day War"],"legalBasis":"UN Charter Articles 2(4) and 51; UNGA Resolution 3314 Art. 3(b); Rome Statute Article 8 bis (as a definition of the crime under international law; no ICC jurisdiction over US nationals for aggression); US Constitution Art. I §8 and the War Powers Resolution.","postureNote":"The facts of the strikes are undisputed and were announced by the President. Their legality under the UN Charter has not been adjudicated by any court or UN body. A leading scholarly analysis concludes they do not qualify as self-defence; the US position is that the President acted lawfully. Classification is 'potential' for aggression under Article 8 bis: there is a reasonable basis to believe a Charter violation occurred, but whether it was 'manifest' by its character, gravity and scale has not been established to the reasonable-grounds standard.","relatedIncidents":["iran-war-crime-of-aggression","jcpoa-iran-deal-withdrawal","trump-soleimani-assassination-iran-escalation","iran-war-bushehr-nuclear-plant"]}}